The disease early warning system (DEWS) was introduced in the immediate aftermath of the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, with the objective to undertake prompt investigation and mitigation of disease outbreaks. The DEWS network was replicated successfully during subsequent flood and earthquake disasters as well as during the 2008-09 internally displaced persons' crisis. DEWS-generated alerts, prom...

In trying to mitigate natural hazards, society plays a high-stakes game against nature. Often nature surprises us when an earthquake, hurricane, or flood is bigger or has greater effects than expected from detailed natural hazard assessments. In other cases, nature outsmarts us, doing great damage despite expensive mitigation measures. These difficulties are illustrated by the March 2011 earthq...

This paper introduces the overall structure of an integrated earthquake disaster simulation system which is being developed under five year Special Project for Earthquake Disaster Mitigation in Urban Areas supported by the MEXT of Japan. This project aims to connect in a unity more than a dozen of simulators for individual natural phenomena and human activities involved in a big urban earthquak...

[1] We describe the detection of teleseismic surface waves from the 3 November 2002 Mw 7.9 Denali fault earthquake in Alaska with a dense network of 1 Hz GPS stations in southern California, about 3900 km from the event. Relative horizontal displacements with amplitudes in excess of 15 mm and duration of 700 seconds agree with integrated velocities recorded by nearby broadband seismometers with...

Soil liquefaction has been observed worldwide during recent major earthquakes with induced effects responsible for much of the damage, disruption of function, and considerable replacement expenses for structures. The phenomenon has not been documented in recent time with such damage in Italian context before the recent Emilia-Romagna Earthquake (May 2012). The main lateral spreading and vertica...

This research aims to develop and demonstrate an advanced, integrated earthquake loss estimation methodology for urban lifeline systems. The methodology, which evaluates direct and indirect economic losses from lifeline failures, provides a means for assessing both expected losses from future earthquakes and potential loss reduction from mitigation alternatives. This effort builds on and coordi...

The primary objective of the research is to provide detailed information on various social aspects of the Marmara earthquake. In particular, the research focuses on activities aimed at restoring basic social functions to the impacted region during the early recovery phase of the disaster. This paper examines three of those functions: (1) housing, (2) education, and (3) health care. The paper co...

When discussing human casualties from a severe earthquake with regard to urban disaster mitigation planning, it is important to clarify the characteristics of the spatiotemporal distribution of people. In this paper, we construct a model that estimates the spatiotemporal distribution of automobile users using data from the Person Trip Survey and the Road Traffic Census. We use this model to est...

Earthquakes form a permanent threat to humankind, causing death and injuries each year. For this reason, studying earthquakes has become an important area of research in geoscience. Responding to an earthquake event, for mitigation or for research purposes, demands quick decision processes which require timely and precise situational information. In this paper, we present Equator, a web-based c...

The object of this paper is to provide a method of cost-benefit analysis of earthquake prediction as a means of mitigation of earthquake effects. The research in earthquake prediction may or may not be successful and involves an initial cost. Earthquake prediction, if achieved, on the one hand provides society with information which allows it to take protective measures. On the other hand, each...